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From the mouths of babes?: Colorado students refuse to be tested

Posted By Scott Warnock On In education,virtual children by Scott Warnock | 7 Comments

Part 10 (of 874) in an occasional series about how standardized tests are destroying education.

The Denver Post reported recently [1] that thousands of high school students in Colorado refused to take standardized state tests. Activism? Test fatigue? Obstinancy? Whatever the case, I like that we’re hearing the student voice, which is often absent in the many conversations about testing.

In all the standardized testing chatter, we seldom get to hear from those who spend years running through the test gauntlet. (As someone who does a lot of talking with faculty around the country about teaching, I think this is generally a weak spot in education conversations: We talk about students but seldom get to hear from them.)

The students seem to have many reasons for their anger. A Colorado Public Radio story about the testing boycott [2] said students refused to take state-mandated tests “as student anxiety about over-testing grows.” Maybe their actions, and many of them were seniors, were a result of sheer test weariness. Some students held up picket signs instead of taking the tests saying things like “education not standardization.” Some even did other things on test days, like collect food for the homeless. Some expressed frustration about being tested on subject matter that they haven’t been taught. I work with late teens and those in their early 20s a lot, and I marvel at how much more evolved these students are than I was at the same age. So I wonder if some are just sick of the two-dimensional pictures tests paint of not just them but their schools. For instance, here’s the schizophrenic state report [3] about my local high school:

This school’s academic performance significantly lags in comparison to schools across the state. Additionally, its academic performance significantly lags in comparison to its peers. This school’s college and career readiness is about average when compared to schools across the state. Additionally, its college and career readiness is high when compared to its peers. This school’s graduation and post-secondary performance lags in comparison to schools across the state. Additionally, its graduation and post-secondary readiness is high when compared to its peers.

It appears terms like “significantly lags” are simply distilled of various numbers and scores. Keep in mind, this report and others like it costs millions and millions of dollars to produce, money that is NOT spent on your kids’ education. And what do you do with this report? Try to figure out if the “lags” and the “is high” language makes sense for what you want out of a school? I don’t know this summary paragraph, even with its helpful bolding, tells you much about the school or the many, many talented kids who go there.

The same thing, of course, happens to students themselves, Kids take a test and they become a number: A number that, in some cases, bars them from many, many opportunities. A number that can make life an even steeper uphill climb — and that additional challenge is usually laid on those who already don’t have it so good.

We want to know if our schools are doing what they’re supposed to be doing. We want to know if kids are learning. Somehow, though, we have been deceived into thinking that this knowing can be unlocked through a battery of tests. Tests do the irresponsible and I think kind of evil thing of allowing people to veil their criticism. You would be booed for criticizing kids and communities based on family income or race, but you can have a field day — man, you can get elected! — criticizing a school full of “those” kids.

Parents don’t like testing. School admins don’t like it. Teachers don’t like it. Kids — we know they hate it, and in Colorado some of them are doing something about it. I hope we hear more student voices through activism and sites like United Opt Out. [4] Good for these Colorado students for organizing themselves. I wonder if the resistance will spread.

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Scott Warnock [8]

Scott Warnock is a writer and teacher who lives in South Jersey. He is a professor of English at Drexel University, where he is also the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education in the College of Arts and Sciences. Father of three and husband of one, Scott is president of a local high school education foundation and spent many years coaching youth sports.
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